NEWS AND HISTORY FROM THE SPRINGFIELD-CAPE GIRARDEAU CATHOLIC DIOCESE

Bishop John J. Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese has invited Bernard Cardinal Law, Archbishop of Boston, to celebrate his 25th anniversary of his ordination as bishop with the Church in Southern Missouri. Celebrations of this event will take place in Springfield on Saturday, Oct. 31, and in Cape Girardeau on Sunday, Nov. 1.

Cardinal law was appointed a Bishop for the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese on Oct. 22, 1973. On January 23, 1984, he was appointed Archbishop of Boston. He was elevated to Cardinal on May 25, 1985.

Cardinal Law will celebrate Mass in Cape Girardeau at the new Notre Dame High School on Route K at 2:30 p.m. A reception will follow the Mass.

An archdiocese is a metropolitan area that has a significant number of Catholics and is the "mother church" for a particular area. The archbishop is the leader of the principal metropolitan area and other dioceses in the region are said to be suffragen to the archbishop, meaning the other bishops can be convened by the archbishop to give their vote, consent or approval on Church matters.

The Archdiocese of Boston includes 2,002,322 Catholics within a total population of 3,764,400. It includes 2,465 square miles and was established as a diocese in 1808. It was created as an archdiocese in 1875,

The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau includes 57,439 Catholics within a total population of 1,155,600. It includes 25,719 square miles and was established as a diocese in 1956. The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau is relevant to the Archdiocese of St. Louis as are the Diocese of Jefferson City and Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri.

A bishop in the Roman Catholic Church is the high priest, the teacher, the shepherd of Catholics within a diocese. Appointment of all bishops and archbishops and the naming of cardinals are made by the pope.

A cardinal is an archbishop or bishop of a higher rank, given special recognition and responsibility in the universal Church with no increase in regional jurisdiction. A cardinal is sometimes referred to as a "prince of the church" because of his ecclesiastical equivalency to a prince in a monarchy. Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are a special group whose responsibility is to provide for the election of the Pope. The Cardinals also assist the Pope collegially when they are called together to deal with questions of major importance. At times, the Pope commissions a cardinal to represent him in some solemn celebration or in some group of persons or to fulfill a certain pastoral duty as the Pope's special envoy.